


Needing An Excuse

by afteriwake



Series: Where Speech Ends [8]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-04-06 04:52:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4208631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock needs Molly's help coming up with an excuse to skip out on them having dinner with Mr. & Mrs. Holmes when Mycroft spills their secret to his parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Needing An Excuse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [horrorfangirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/horrorfangirl/gifts).



> So I had planned on upping it to revealing two stories a day, just because I'm having laptop problems, but tomorrow I may not be online so just in case I'm not I'm updating through to story ten so that half of the series is up since if I don't leave my house tomorrow I won't have computer access until Monday. If I do get online tomorrow then there's more stories for you guys! Anyway, this is the last of the stories based on an instrumental piece (in this case, it's the String Tribute Player's cover of "Jack's Lament" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas"). Enjoy!

**Do you curse around your parents?**

Sherlock paced around the room, the song he'd chosen to listen to blaring again. He was going to kill his brother, he really was. Mycroft had put him in this untenable situation and it was getting nearly impossible to get out of it. He went and picked his mobile up off the table again. He'd sent Molly ten text messages. Surely whatever she was doing wasn't so important she couldn't answer at least _one_ of them.

As if his prayers were being answered, his mobile began to ring and it was Molly. He answered it quickly. “I'm so sorry it took so long to call,” she said without waiting for him to answer. “I was in the middle of giving autopsy results to DI Dimmock for his case when the first one arrived, and he gave me a strange look when they kept coming and I shoved the phone under a pile of papers.”

“I don't know why he thought it strange,” he said, flopping into his chair.

“Well, apparently saying it was you was enough of an explanation,” she said. “He assumed it was case related, but I knew better. But I had work to do and I try my best to be a consummate professional when I'm at work.”

“My apologies,” he said.

“Well, I can see why it was important,” she said. “Why on earth do you need me to come up with an excuse for not going to dinner, though?”

The song ended and began again as he tilted his head back onto the chair. “Because they know all of my excuses to skip out on family functions,” he said, sighing. “Whatever excuse you come up with has to be top notch. My mother is quite insistent.”

“Simple: we're pretending to simply be friends,” she said. “If I go over to your mum and dad's home for dinner any of those people who follow you around are going to know there's more to our relationship than us being mates.”

“She already considered that,” he grumbled. “John and Mary are invited as well, and they're supposed to encourage you to arrive with them. I'm trying to get John to tell her they couldn't find a sitter but my brother is being meddlesome. He's offered the services of his assistant for the entire evening. I swear, he's trying to thwart every attempt I make to avoid this.”

“Well, if John and Mary will be there, maybe it won't be so bad?” she said hesitantly.

“You're my girlfriend. You're supposed to be on my side,” he said in a mildly disgusted tone.

“You know, that's the first time you've said that,” she said, her tone bright, as though she'd ignored his tone of voice completely. “I mean, I know we're not being public, but John and Mary know and you've never referred to me as your girlfriend around them.”

“I've said it to John,” he said, frowning.

“Well, it's the first time you've said it around _me_ ,” she said. “But back to the topic. I suppose we can try and figure out another reason that we can't attend. Maybe a case?”

There was a pause on his end. “Possibly. It'd have to be a very big case, though. Something that involves being on top of it at every waking moment. Something where I can't afford to take a break.”

“There's no point in asking your brother for something since he seems to want this meal to take place,” she said. Then there was a long pause, to the point where he wasn't quite sure if she was still on the line. “Sherlock, are you listening to the string quartet version of the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack?” she asked finally.

“Just one song on repeat,” he said. “'Jack's Lament' seems to fit my mood perfectly at the moment, and the original version as well as the Nightmare Revisited version have lyrics, which are distracting. I am obviously not having the same type of crisis that he was having.”

“Well, obviously. You aren't trying to steal Christmas from Santa Claus.” Then she paused. “How many times have you listened to it?” she asked curiously.

“Fifty-eight so far,” he said. “You're straying from the topic at hand.”

“Take the song off repeat first before Mrs. Hudson decides to send your body here in a body bag,” she said, her voice just slightly stern.

“That would be a legitimate excuse, albeit one with horrible consequences for me,” he said thoughtfully.

“Sherlock.”

He sighed. “Very well,” he said, reaching over to change the song.

“Stop acting like a petulant child,” she said, and he could just imagine she was shaking her head. It was a mildly irritating picture in his head.

“I'm a fully grown adult and I can make my own bloody decisions, thank you very much,” he said, his tone slightly snappish. “My brother is being an arse and doing everything he can to make me go home for this meal, and for that reason alone I want to avoid it. So we need to get to work on figuring out a legitimate excuse.”

“Illness?” she suggested. “A late night for me? An upcoming apocalypse?”

“This is not a joking matter, Molly,” he said.

“Sherlock, there has to be more to avoiding this dinner than tweaking Mycroft's nose. Tell me what it is before I take this seriously again.” He didn't want to get into it all. That would lay pressure on her, pressure she didn't need. That they didn't need. He was quite happy with what they had, and they didn't need to worry about all the things that could come up in the future, if she stayed that long. “Sherlock?” she asked gently, breaking him out of his thoughts.

“My mum's started to realize she and my father are growing older and Mycroft and I are nowhere near close to giving her grandchildren,” he said quietly, shutting his eyes. “They assumed Mycroft had an intimate acquaintance but in order to deflect the pressure off of himself he told Mum that you and I were dating discreetly. After what happened with Janine she was not about to let another potential daughter-in-law slip away without a meeting.”

She was quiet for a moment, a very long moment, and he began to panic. They hadn't been dating for all that long, just a few days shy of three months. Things like marriage and children weren't even on the horizon of being talked about, especially because he was involved. He had no clue whether he wanted any of that or not, and she was being quite patient in not bringing any of it up. But maybe they would need to, now, because of all of this. He was going to punch Mycroft hard in the jaw for this, because really, he had thrown the both of them under the bus. “Maybe we should just go and get it over with,” she said when she finally spoke.

He lifted his head up in surprise. “My mother will not take one dinner as the end of this topic. It's not in her nature, especially since my brother's the type of tosser who will keep stoking the fires to get them to keep bothering me in order to avoid having them pry into his personal life. Personally I want my entire family to piss off for the time being.”

“Please tell me you won't actually tell your mum and dad to piss off,” she said, aghast.

“What? No,” he said, and the shock was evident in his voice. He was surprised she'd made the suggestion. In her defense, though, she'd seen exactly how he treated his brother and it wasn't well, so she had no real basis for comparison. “My mother would string me up from the rafters if I did that. I can be abrupt and rather rude at times, but she'll only tolerate a low level of a disrespectful attitude from me. That would cross a line I don't want to cross.”

“Good.” she said. There was another short pause. “When does she want us to make an appearance?”

“Half past six tonight.”

“Can you gather some sordid bits about your brother's life in the next five hours? That will give us until four o'clock to try and avoid this.”

“I can attempt to, though he's getting better at hiding his tracks,” he said thoughtfully. “Why?”

“We can blackmail him into coming up with a legitimate reason for avoiding this dinner,” she said. “You tell him that you know something he desperately doesn't want your parents to know, and that if we are forced to go to the dinner tonight it will become common knowledge not only among your family but with John, Mary and I as well.”

There was a pause, and he felt a grin spread across his face. “Molly, I could kiss you.”

“I would like it very much if you would later,” she said with a laugh. “But only when we have a bit more privacy.”

“I'll ensure we have that tonight,” he said. “Your shift is over at five, I assume?”

“Provided there isn't any reason for me to be asked to stay late, yes,” she said. “Should I go to Baker Street or would you like to go to my flat?”

“We'll probably have less chance of having our evening intruded upon if we're at your home. Everyone knows where I live and feels they have the right to bother me any time they want. I'll let myself in.”

“Use the key, Sherlock,” she said. “Don't pick my lock.”

He sighed. “You're taking away my chance at getting some practice. Not that your lock is very hard to pick, but still. It doesn't hurt to keep my hand in.”

“ _No,_ ” she said.

“Fine,” he grumbled. “I'll bring Thai. Your usual?”

“Yes please,” she said. “I'll call you if anything changes.”

“All right. I will alert you if plans change on my end. Good-bye for now.”

“Bye, Sherlock,” she said, and she hang up a moment later. He lowered his mobile and looked at it for a moment. One day she would have to meet his parents, he knew that, but hopefully it would be at a time when they had at least talked about the seriousness of their relationship and the future they wanted it to have. Until then, avoidance would be best, Mycroft's meddling be damned. Right now, though, he needed to go search out material to blackmail his brother with, and his grin came back. _This_ was going to make for an enjoyable day.


End file.
